A little unexpected
by Tabi
Summary: Actually, I didn't have a title for this one. Carrot doesn't like Gateau flirting with Marron, but... why?


"Gateau, I hate it when you flirt like that with Marron."

Gateau looked up from the block of wood he'd been about to bring the edge of his hand down upon. He blinked at Carrot, vaguely surprised.

It was night-time, the group were on their way back to Eden after disposing of the latest Sorcerer. Around the campfire, Tira was asleep, Chocolat was halfway there, and Marron was quietly watching the fire. Carrot and Gateau had been there too; Gateau'd said something, one of his usual flirtatious comments, then, noticing the fire was dying down fractionally, had gone off to gather more firewood. After a short while, Carrot had followed him. He'd been glaring throughout the Gateau-Marron exchange (if exchange was the right word; Marron had remained silent as usual), then, with a parting word to his brother, had followed off after Gateau. He _had_ to say something.

Gateau stood up straight, a good foot or so taller than Carrot. Carrot just glared up at Gateau, some kind of angry determination on his face. Gateau was bemused; he knew what Carrot was like when it came to that kind of behaviour, but he'd never exactly come out with his dissatisfaction exactly like _that._

"That's blunt, Carrot. Something give way?"

Gateau turned his attention from Carrot, and went back to chopping wood. Carrot let out a short, sharp, exasperated sigh, still glaring.

"Gateau, can't you quit that for a moment? I wanna talk to you."

"Oh? I'm in for it now, aren't I. The anger of the older brother." Gateau knocked the wood off the tree stump he'd been using as a flat surface, and sat on it. He rested his hands over his knees, his shoulders slightly hunched.

"Go on then, you wanna talk? Then talk."

Carrot paused, as if he was unsure of what to say for a moment. He just stared at Gateau, then seemed to remember what he'd said in the first place.

"Oh, oh yeah. I don't like it when you flirt with Marron like that..."

"Carrot, I've been flirting with Marron for years now, I've done and said worse things than that! I didn't even show any skin this time. What's up with you now? Makin' a big deal out of it..."

Carrot leant against a nearby tree. "It's just... I..."

"You don't like another guy gettin' close to yer precious little brother? Or should I say, _a_ guy." Gateau smirked, "You guys are close. Not that close."

"... It's just... you're always flirting with Marron like that, and it really gets on my nerves!! Always ripping yer clothes off and wanting him to look, always asking if he wants to sleep with you and stuff... I mean, come on, you've been after him for ages now, don't you think he woulda said something if he _did want you to?"_

"He hasn't said anything against it either, Carrot. What's your point?"

Carrot couldn't think of one; he folded his arms. "I just don't like it when you flirt with him, that's all."

"Hey, but he's beautiful!! Maybe you're jealous, is that it?" Gateau sounded amused; despite Carrot's apparent feelings, Gateau was quite enjoying this. No matter what argument Carrot presented, Gateau felt he had a point to back himself up with. It was nice to have the upper hand in an argument.

"You're just jealous 'cause Marron's so beautiful and you're not."

"Gateau, things like _that_ bug me too..."

"What, that Marron's a potential sex god and you're an unbeautiful dolt?"

Anger flashed in Carrot's eyes, he looked up, meeting Gateau's eyes. The intensity of Carrot's eyes made Gateau frown slightly; whatever it was he was getting het up about now, it was certainly something he felt strongly about. This too, in it's own way, was amusing. Or at least interesting. Carrot was usually too preoccupied with girlchasing and being a moron to be even a bit serious, occasionally he tried to warn Gateau away from Marron, 'Leave him alone, Gateau!'... 'Stop saying things like that, he doesn't like it'... 'that's sick, Marron doesn't wanna hear about that, neither do the rest of us', but Gateau never paid those comments any heed. Marron was the one he liked, wanted and perhaps loved; just because Marron's brother wasn't keen on the situation didn't mean that Marron himself was too. Sometimes Gateau worried whether Carrot'd try to poison Marron's mind against him... Marron, after all, obviously thought highly of his brother, and his brother's opinion, perhaps. Still, Marron'd never come out and said he hated Gateau's behaviour, and that was what kept Gateau going. Never exactly being encouraged, but never discouraged either. That was the most important thing.

"Gateau, would you just quit saying things like that?"

"Carrot, even you've gotta admit that Marron's gorgeous. Can't exactly call him a sex god, though... never got far enough to find out. But damn, what I wouldn't give to find out... he's gorgeous. It doesn't matter what _you think, not much is gonna stop me finding that brother of yours attractive."_

"What? No! I meant..."

Carrot looked away slightly.

"... nevermind what I meant."

"No, I wanna know. If you've suddenly got some big problem, then I want to know about it... get it out in the open before it goes bad and _really gets in the way. Whatever the problem is," Gateau shrugged. "Just come on out and say it. I think we're both mature enough to handle it."_

Carrot took a deep breath, "Okay... well... you're always on about how beautiful Marron is and stuff, about how he's sexy and gorgeous and all that... and you're always calling _me_ such an unbeautiful dolt and an idiot and a fool and all of that crap, it just pisses me off, that's all."

Gateau leant back on one arm, smirking.

"What, so you're saying you want me to call you beautiful too or something?"

Gateau waited for Carrot's eager denial; it didn't come, and that confused him slightly. Carrot was just looking at him with those intense, angry eyes again...  what was with that look?

"Carrot, what are you trying to say?"

Carrot looked away again, seemingly frustrated. "Doesn't matter, forget I mentioned it."

With that, he turned his back on Gateau and started the short walk back to the campfire.

Gateau frowned, then stood up. He caught up with Carrot, stopping him in his tracks by making a sudden grab for both of his shoulders; Carrot looked up and behind him with momentary confusion, almost as if he wondered who'd done that. After he realised who, he wanted to know _why_.

"Gateau?"

"Carrot, you can't just walk off like that in the middle of a conversation, didn't your mother ever tell you? It's not polite. What the hell are you getting at? Sure, okay, so it pisses you off that I find Marron beautiful, you've suddenly got some problem with that... tell me about it. What is it _now that's making you so angry?"_

Gateau turned Carrot around and got him walking back in the direction of the glade with the treestump. He let go of Carrot's shoulders, Carrot stood there, looking at Gateau for a moment. Gateau was still interested, but less amused by this point. Carrot's actions were really confusing him.

"Damn... well, okay. Look, Gateau... you're always on about Marron being beautiful and you being beautiful and me being ugly-"

Gateau couldn't resist, "That's 'cause you are."

"SHUT UP!! Gateau, it REALLY pisses me off when you're always on about how ugly I am and stuff! What's it about you that makes _you_ so special? I can't help it if Marron's got the hair and the eyes and the general perfection crap sorted, it's not something I can change or anything, but when you're always on at Marron to look at you and sleep with you and everything, couldn't you at least maybe ask ME if I wanted to look at you too? Maybe I'd say more than that stupid brother of mine!"

Gateau was thrown for a few moments.

"Jeez, now I'm even more confused. Carrot... _what_!?"

Carrot looked as if he was going to say something, but opted out at the last moment.

"... I already said, it's nothing. Get out of the way, m'gonna go back to the camp. Marron's probably getting lonely."

"Marron can wait, I wanna know what the hell it is you were just implying."

"I wasn't implying anything, just forget about it."

"Carrot, stop lying."

Gateau pushed Carrot's shoulder, he fell back slightly, reaching out with his arms to stop himself before he fell; he ended up sitting on the treestump Gateau'd previously been chopping wood on. Gateau leaned over, his hands on Carrot's shoulders, looking down at him.

"I'm not gonna let you leave this glade 'til you tell me. There's something going on inside that tiny mind of yours, which is worrying enough... Carrot... what _is your problem?"_

Carrot was silent as he reached up, his hands coming between Gateau's arms before linking around his neck. He looked almost distant, "THIS is the problem."

Abruptly, he leant up, frozen against Gateau as he kissed him. He barely dared move; Gateau had the power to break every bone in Carrot's body, he was sure... he wondered if he'd end up finding that out the painful way.

Gateau tried pulling back at the shock of suddenly seeing Carrot's closed eyes so close to his own, feeling Carrot... kissing him?! Carrot... Carrot the pervert, Carrot the girlchasing maniac, Carrot the most heterosexual Sorcerer Hunter out of the five of them... kissing... him? Carrot's arms around his neck were secure, though. He didn't seem to want to let go, and Gateau was too confused to figure out how to do anything about that...

Eventually though, Carrot leant back, letting his arms slip down, sitting down fully on the treestump again. Gateau took a few steps backwards, shocked and confused.

"C-Carrot... wh-what... what the HELL!?"

"It really pisses me off when you're on about how beautiful Marron is and how ugly I am. It's always Marron you want to get attention from, it's _always Marron... I can't help it if I'm ugly, I can't help it if everyone hates me and would rather shoot themselves than spend the night with me, I..."_

"Carrot, that's not true and you know it. Not everyone hates you! Tira and Chocolat are certainly taken with you."

"But that's _different_... it's like... I know they love me, but it's just... I... I don't know..."

"Okay then, if not them... uh... Crepe? Crepe liked you!"

"She's dead, Gateau."

"I know, I know... I'm just saying, well... actually, I don't know what I'm saying. Not everyone hates you, though! And that still doesn't explain, uh, why you kissed me..."

Carrot just stared at the floor. Gateau sighed, and tried to catch Carrot's line of sight.

"Carrot?"

"Gateau, I... would it be stupid if I said I thought you were, uh, attractive?"

"I wouldn't say it was stupid, that's just common sense, but I wouldn't expect _you to say it. Why, is it the sort of thing you're likely to say?" Gateau had a sardonic tone to his voice._

"... It's stupid, I don't even know why..."

"You don't even know why what?"

Carrot looked up at Gateau. "I don't know _why_ I think I like you like that! It's just... whenever you're yelling 'LOOK AT ME', I look, and... you're always hanging around halfnaked, and it's... I don't know... it's usually you and Eclair, but for some reason it's always YOU I'm looking at and not Eclair and it's really screwing with my mind 'cause I don't get why! Eclair's a girl, I like girls, I should look at her, right? Eclair in a bikini!! Woo! But... but... when it's her in a bikini, or you in a th-..."

Carrot threw his head onto the palms of his hands, growling in frustration.

"JESUS, can't you just forget I said anything? This is too weird and it's really freaking me out!!"

Gateau raised his eyebrow, "It's freaking YOU out? How d'ya think I feel?"

Carrot's eyes glared over the tips of his fingers, "Yeah, well, it's okay for YOU, isn't it? It doesn't matter to _you_, it's not like you're not used to liking guys or whatever, 'cause you're always after Marron, given half a chance you'd be all over him, you don't give a damn, it's just natural for _you_... but I'm the girl-crazy maniac, remember? I'm the one who only cares about getting with the latest pretty girl, always groping and chasing and crap... always getting hit away for it..."

Carrot sounded almost sad as he said that.

"Carrot..."

"Girls hate me, Gateau! Yeah, don't even say it, Chocolat and Tira don't hate me... but they've got some damn strange ways of saying 'I love you', with their whips and pain and torture... yeah, like _that's_ supposed to help me warm to them. How the hell am I supposed to even think about getting with either of them? If I got with Tira, Chocolat'd kill me. If I got with Chocolat, Tira'd kill me. If I got with either of them and then even dared LOOK at another girl, they'd both kill me! They're scary!"

"And what's that got to do with me? If you got with a guy they'd want to kill you even more."

"I, I know... and... I don't know what it's got to do with you, but... you're just... I feel really confused. It's always so painful with girls, they never even give me a chance, and the ones who _do_ usually end up dead or it was all a misunderstanding and they had a boyfriend all along or whatever, and Tira and Chocolat always just LOVE to punish me for it... they... wouldn't suspect that maybe... somehow... I kinda... don't really LIKE girls... kinda..."

Gateau sighed, and wandered over to the treestump. He sat down next to it, leaning his elbow on it, and his face in his hand.

"Are you trying to say you're gay?"

"H-hey, it's not _that_... I mean... I... I dunno... it's not that I don't _like_ girls, girls are... cool, y'know? But I just always feel so nervous, and it always ends up being so painful... I don't think I'm gay though, am I?"

"Carrot, you randomly kissed me earlier, if you're saying that's something a totally straight guy does than you've got a pretty weird definition of 'straight' going on there."

Carrot sighed, kicking against the grass.

"Y-yeah... I suppose... y'see... I look at girls, and they're beautiful and stuff... then you're always saying about how beautiful you are and how beautiful your body is, and, I dunno, I guess I just got thinking about it and it kinda snowballed. Like... from 'how can anyone find that sexy?' to 'okay, maybe that's what people find sexy' to 'do I find that sexy?' to 'shit I think I do'... if that makes any sense..."

"You still like girls though, right?"

"I like the _thought_ of girls... but... the reality of them is always so painful..."

"And guys aren't painful ? Hey, at least it's 'normal' for you to like girls, even if Tira and Chocolat are always beating up on you for it. If you think you might be gay, good for you, I'm not trying to say you're not, or trying to convince you against it or anything, 'cause that'd make me a hypocrite, but... I just don't quite get where _I_ come into it..."

Carrot lifted himself down from the treestump and onto the ground, sitting next to Gateau.

"It was trying to figure out what everyone sees in you that made me realise what there IS to see in you... you're always surrounded by flocks of girls at the beach or wherever, it always annoyed me, 'why do they find HIM so attractive?', so I thought about it for a while."

"And?"

"Well, you're sexy, aren't you? All strong and powerful like that, always running around halfnaked and looking too damn fine as you do so... girls are nice, don't get me wrong, but... you're just so... jeez, I dunno. It's not that girls can't be strong, but you make being strong look _good, ya know?"_

Gateau seemed to realise something, shifting the conversation in a slightly different direction.

"If you ARE gay or bi or whatever, sounds like you're probably feeling bi to me, then... how come you always freak so much when Milphey tries it on?"

"If I'm gonna like a guy, I want it to be on my own terms, Gateau. Milphey's... Milphey's just... he's too enthusiastic, and for some stupid reason, whenever HE flirts with me, it's always ME that Tira and Chocolat beat up on!"

"Again with the pain thing?"

"Yeah."  
There was silence between the two for a few moments.

"So... the reason you didn't like me flirting with Marron... you'd rather I flirted with you?"

"I don't know... you always just pay so much attention to him, that's all. I always get ignored... people find Marron attractive, people find you attractive, but they don't find _me_ attractive, and then I always get you going on about how ugly I am, it just hurts, I guess. Makes it more painful that Marron's my brother... I mean, jeez, I'm related to him! Isn't it amazing how we're so different? He's got the poise and the airs and the graces and the mysteriousness and I've just got... nothing..."

Gateau looked down at Carrot, genuinely shocked. Carrot looked so _sad sitting there like that, staring at the ground, but not at anything in particular... sure, sometimes Carrot got emotional, but Gateau'd never quite seen him depressed like that, he'd sounded so morose during the last sentence or so of what he'd said... Gateau felt torn, suddenly._

"_Why do I suddenly feel bad that Carrot feels like that? Hey, Carrot, that's not true..."_

Carrot looked up, Gateau felt even more thrown when he saw that Carrot's eyes were shining with unshed tears, precariously close to being shed...

"Oh yeah? If that's not true, then tell me what about it isn't true! I'm not beautiful, I'm not sexy, I'm not all mysterious or powerful or strong, I'm just... I- I don't know, I'm just..."

Carrot didn't know. He trailed off, glancing at Gateau, holding that glance as he saw... concern, was it? There was something in Gateau's eyes.

"Okay, Carrot, listen to me. No, you're not beautiful like Marron. No, you haven't got my gorgeous body. But there's still things to like about you!! It probably doesn't help that you always act like such a godforsaken moron, people ain't gonna think highly of you if you act like an idiot, but... you _do have a deeper side to you, it's just hidden a bit, I guess. Even if you don't show it though, you __are sensitive, aren't you? Carrot Glacé's got a sensitive side... never thought I'd hear myself say __that, but... we all do, I guess. You just act like such an idiot all the time, people are more likely to think 'Damn, what an idiot, I think I'll punch him in the face' to 'Oh, isn't he great!'..."_

"Gateau..."

"There's something nice about you when you're not being a moron, Carrot. You should try it more often."

Carrot nodded, "I... I guess..."

"But what? You sound unsure."  
"It's not that I'm unsure... it's just... there's all of that, all that in-depth crap, but it doesn't help the fact that I find _you attractive and I don't know why..."_

Gateau stretched his arms to the sky, making a satisfied noise as he did so.

"I don't know why either. Well, I mean, I don't know why _you feel like that."_

"Gateau... I know you like Marron, I know he's beautiful and you like beautiful things and I'm not beautiful, but... maybe... could you ever, uh... _like me?"_

Gateau brought his hands down from his stretch.

"You're still on about liking me, huh?"

"I don't think there really has to be a reason... I hope not, 'cause I sure as hell can't think of one. Just... I mean, I guess you're probably gonna say no, but... do you think... there ever might be a chance...?"

"Carrot, I don't know. Yeah, I like Marron. You've confused me, though. I mean... I like Marron, but he's always so quiet about how he feels... I _never know how he feels, never have done... meanwhile, you came out and randomly kissed me... it's not that I don't like Marron anymore or anything, but... I don't know, I respect you for that, that takes guts. You've got a sensitive side _and_ guts, you're doing well tonight."_

Carrot smiled vaguely at Gateau's humour, feeling slightly saddened.

"I guess Marron's always gonna be better than me. Kinda feels lonely, knowing that everyone always likes him and not me..."

"You're trying to guilt-trip me to death, aren't you?"

Carrot attempted a smile. "Is it working?"

Gateau smiled, sighing. "You're persistent, I'll give you that. Look, if something _did_ happen between us, serious or not... we wouldn't let the others know, would we? We both know how the Misu sisters'd react, and it wouldn't be pretty. As for Marron... I really don't know how he'd react. Best he doesn't know, huh?"

"So you're saying...?"

"I think, as long as we're quiet about it, it's okay. If anything, you're confused... you're young, you wanna experiment, it helps if there's someone to experiment _with_..."

Carrot knocked playfully at Gateau's arm, "Quit sounding so worldly-wise, you're only a year older than me!"

Gateau laughed, "Okay, okay. So... you think I'm attractive, huh?"

"Uh? Oh, uh... well, _yeah_..."

Gateau smirked, shifting over a little, half-crouched next to Carrot as he took hold of Carrot's chin in his thumb and forefinger.

"You're cute too."

Carrot was about to say something to that, but found his body restricted by Gateau's own and his voice restricted by Gateau's kiss.

He didn't mind, though. Not in the slightest.

~Fin~


End file.
